


Jericho

by Seven_Oomen



Series: Stuckony and Winteriron tumblr prompts [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alpha Tony Stark, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Fetal Death, Fluffy Ending, Gore, Graphic Birth Scene, Knotting, M/M, Minor Character Death, Miscarriage, Mpreg, Omega Bucky Barnes, Omega Steve Rogers, Power Dynamics, Power Imbalance, Violence, stuckony friendship, winteriron
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-04 20:12:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13372215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seven_Oomen/pseuds/Seven_Oomen
Summary: It's been over a decade since he lost Dyson, it feels like a century has passed since he lost his mother. All because of one man, no a monster. He doesn't want anything to do with Barnes, can't stand to look at him. And yet, when Steve comes calling when he begs him for forgiveness- for help. He can't help but answer that call.They call him insane when he takes in Barnes, agrees to be the monster's guardian. But then the monster makes him an offer that's hard to resist. Desperate for a sense of family, for a sense of normalcy. Tony takes the offer, regardless of what the price may be. And surprisingly, finds what he's looking for along the way.





	1. Chapter one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [eriot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/eriot/gifts).



> Based on the prompt by reigingheart22:
> 
> In the AU, Tony had a mate with a pup on the way, but they died. Until Civil Wars happened, and he saw that they too were a victim of the WS besides his parents. Team IM/Team CA separate (no cryo) go their own way until Tony becomes too suicidal during one mission gone wrong. Team CA comes back, but Tony is just done with their backstabbing and lies (Team CA falls apart after learning what really went on in Siberia). Bucky, wrought with guilt and wanting to make up for his past murders of Stark’s parents and dead mate and pup, somehow through his jacked up mind, figures that the way to Tony’s good graces is… become Tony’s mate and having his pups.

_Sunlight reflected the glow of his golden hair as blue eyes settled onto the crib before him. Just a few more weeks and their little miracle would be in his arms. He smiled gently as his hand trailed over the ridge of the crib, feeling the smooth wood under the tips of his fingers._

_“Dy? You in here?”_

_He turned his head towards the source of the sound and smiled as his Alpha slowly walked up to him. “Yeah, just checking out the nursery.”_

_Tony chuckled. “Again? You know we finished this room months ago, it’s all set for junior’s arrival.”_

_“I know, I just can’t help coming back.” Dyson chuckled softly and gently caressed Tony’s cheek. “I just need everything to be perfect.”_

_The Alpha hummed softly and stood on his toes to nuzzle Dyson’s cheek. Tony let his hands roam over the Omega’s swollen abdomen, chuckling when the baby kicked against his hand. “I’ll bet Junior’s gonna look like you.”_

_Dyson gently covered Tony’s hand with his own. “What with a strong, slightly crooked nose, high cheekbones,_ _and a rounded jawline? Not to mention the weird blond hair that covers the tips of my ears. Doesn’t sound too appealing to me. I’d rather have him or her look like you.”_

_“Hey now,” Tony carefully turned him around and looked up into his eyes. “None of that. You are perfect just the way you are.” The Alpha’s hands caressed his cheeks, “I love you, you dolt. Having Junior look like you would be the best thing ever.”_

_“Never took you for such a sap, Tony.”_

_“Only for you, babe.”_

_His life with Dyson had been a dream, one he never wanted to wake up from. But as fate dictated, all dreams came to an end. And his ended in a nightmare._

_The little red light of the answering machine kept blinking at him as he strolled around the kitchen. With a soft sigh, he pressed the button and listened to the playing messages._

_“Hey Tony, just wanted to let you know I’m running late. Junior and I are fine, we’re on our way home but we’re stuck in traffic.”_

_The Alpha frowned at the answering machine but continued his track through the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans to get dinner started. He turned on the small tv in the kitchen and focused his attention on peeling the potatoes in the sink._

_“Tony… I’m so sorry.”_

_The Alpha froze mid peel and slowly turned towards the answering machine, eyes wide as panic rose within him. Dyson’s voice was laced with sobs and the Omega sounded terrified._

_“Something hit the car, it flipped. There’s something piercing my abdomen, Junior’s not moving. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”_

_No. No, no, god no. Their baby… their pup…_

_“I can smell gas, it’s leaking. I’m so scared.” A few sobs sounded over the machine, “There’s something or someone moving outside… Tony, if I don’t make it, I love you. I love you, I lov-”_

_The line went dead… beeping off into nothingness as the realization set into his mind._

_“Sir, I think you should see this_. _” JARVIS said after a few minutes of silence. The tv’s volume turned up and Tony slowly turned his attention to the screen. Sally Floyd, a reporter for NBC news was at some scene._

_“Thirty minutes have passed since the explosion on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Authorities are still investigating the cause, but the victims have been identified. Dyson Jay Stark, husband of business tycoon Tony Stark and their unborn child were in the vehicle that exploded. Other casualties include several civilians from surrounding vehicles. Our hearts and prayers are with their families.”_

_Sobs shook his body, the potato and peeler fell to the floor and his knees gave out under him as he cried. His mate, his husband, his Omega… Gone, dead, never coming back. He sobbed and cried, slamming his fist against the kitchen cabinets until he punched through the wood, just to focus his pain on something physical. He stared at the blood dripping from his hands and wrists as he cried. He lost everything in one night, including his own will to live._

Back then it had been Rhodey who had forced him to keep going, to keep on living. But now? Now he didn’t even have that. Rhodey was in the hospital, fighting for his life after the fight in Berlin. A severed spine, how was he ever going to recover from that…

The Alpha lay unmoving in his hospital bed, staring down at his broken arm while he reflected on the events that landed him here. God, he hated Cap and Barnes with a burning passion. They took everything from him and one day, he was going to return that favor…

_“Did you really think I wanted more of you?”_

_He should’ve known at that moment that it was all a trap, a ploy to get them all in one place. Easy pickings… They made it too easy._

_“An empire toppled by its enemies, that can rise again. But an empire that crumbles from within, that’s dead forever.”_

_The tv screens in front of them flickered to life, he shared a brief look with cap and watched Barnes closely in his peripheral vision. Watched as the former HYDRA assassin developed a look of horror and disbelief on his face._

**_December 16, 1991._ **

_“I know that road.” He knew that date_ _knew it all too well._

_“What is this?” He watched with growing horror as Barnes moved on screen, stalking his way towards Howard Stark before beating him to death with his metal arm. That horror turned into something sickening as he watched his mother being choked to death. All this time he thought it had been an accident… The truth was so much worse._

_“Tony…”_

_“Did you know?” He spat, glaring at Steve._

_“I didn’t know it was him.”_

_Those words sealed the deal. Rogers had known about the true cause of his parents’ death, had known and hadn’t said anything to him. That was unforgivable._

_“Don’t bullshit me, Rogers!” He growled, “Did you know?”_

_“Yes.”_

_He turned his attention to Barnes, intent on killing the bastard that had killed his mother. Barnes held his hands up, tears running down his face as he desperately tried to apologize._

_“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”_

_“It wasn’t him, Tony! HYDRA had controlled his mind.”_

_Zemo laughed. “Did you really think that was the only thing I had on you?”_

_The screens flickered again._

**_May 30, 2002_ **

_Barnes was walking towards a flipped car in the middle of traffic, the hood of the car was completely destroyed and one of the parts was protruding through the cabin itself._

_“Something hit the car, it flipped. There’s something piercing my abdomen, Junior’s not moving. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”_

_His blood ran cold as he stared at the screen in horror. He didn’t even know he started shaking until he felt Rogers’ hand on his shoulder. He pushed it off and stared at the screen with wide eyes. “No…”_

_He briefly looked at Barnes, glancing back at the screen when the audio blared to life again._

_“I can smell gas, it’s leaking. I’m so scared.” Barnes closed the distance between him and the car, “There’s something or someone moving outside… Tony, if I don’t make it, I love you.”_

_The assassin lit some kind of flame near the car and chucked it towards the vehicle before taking off in the opposite direction, “I love you, I_ lov _-”_

_A giant explosion cut the audio and video off at that point, showing only static. Tony fell to his knees, tears running down his face as he tried to come to terms with what he was seeing. Barnes had taken everything from him. His mother, his sweet and perfect Dyson, even his unborn pup. And he was gonna pay for that with his fucking life._

And that’s when the fighting had started, a fight he had ultimately lost, but not the war. The war was only beginning. He sighed softly and turned his gaze to the ceiling, counting all the little dots on there. And was that an actual spec of blood?

A knock on the door had him looking in its direction, frowning as he registered who it was. “Peter? What are you doing here?”

“Checking on you.” The teenager shrugged, leaning against the doorway. “Making sure you’re okay.”

“As well as can be expected. So what’s going on?” Tony carefully propped himself up against his pillow and leaned back so he could get a better look at the teenager.

“Oh you know, same old, same old.” Peter shrugged. “I mean Rhodey’s recovering, he’s awake and all, Natasha is basically babysitting me while keeping communications with Wakanda open. And Vision is keeping the base within operations. I think he struck a deal with SHIELD or something…”

Tony groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “Peachy…”

“Yeah, but you know, Cap and all are hiding in Wakanda. That can’t exactly be pleasant either.”

“Hmmm, maybe.” He looked back up at the ceiling and sighed. “But they can stay there for all I care.”

Peter had left him to his own devices after that. Undoubtedly the teenager still thought that there was some good left in good old Captain America and his sidekick Bucky. The Alpha hoped to god that Steve and the little monster wouldn’t do anything to break that illusion for him.

In the end, it took three days for him to get out of the hospital. And another three months for the ‘Avengers’ to be operational again. SHIELD had taken over most of the compound, with Coulson and Hill running most of the base and Coulson's team doing daily operations. He wasn’t sure what to make of Coulson’s team, well, he liked doctor Simmons, the young genius had some interesting insights and proved invaluable in restoring Rhodey’s spinal cord.

Speaking of Rhodes…

“Yo Tony! Suit up, we got a mission.”

He looked up from his tablet and raised an eyebrow at his best friend. “I’m in the middle of something…”

“Then finish it later, we gotta get going! Terrorist attack in the middle of Manhattan.”

“A terrorist attack?” He laid his tablet down next to him on the couch.

“Some white supremacist group just brought down an office building of planned parenthood. They need fire and rescue, police and fire department are on scene but the building is collapsing. They need help, Tony.” Rhodey gave him a rather stern look and shook his head before taking off. Presumably to get his suit on.

Tony sighed and dragged his ass off the couch, he didn’t really see the point of all this anymore. But he couldn’t exactly let innocent people suffer either. He activated his earpiece, got his suit on and waited for FRIDAY to come online a second later.

“I’ve prepared schematics of the building, boss. There’s a small boy trapped in a stairwell on the south side of the building and several people are trapped in offices on the fourth floor. Colonel Rhodes and mister Parker are on route as well.”

“Peter? Who authorized his involvement?!” Peter wasn’t prepared for missions like this, he was just a kid.

“Director Hill did, boss. Miss Johnson has been deployed to steady the crumbling building.”

"Yeah, that's just not going to fly, FRI. Hill, for god's sake, send the kid home..."

"Mister Parker is here on SHIELD's authority, Stark. Your objections are noted but Mister Parker will continue to do his job as he's instructed." Hill's voice sounded clear and brief, leaving very little room for argument.

"Mister Stark, please. I can prove myself, I can-" Peter's voice piped up.  
"Zip it kid, the adults are talking." Tony cut him off, "Hill..."

"Don't argue with me Tony, we need all the help we can get in order to get these people out safely. Mister Parker's powers are a great asset."

Tony sighed inwardly, briefly closing his eyes. "Kid, you're staying out of the rubble. You hear me."

"Will do, Mister Stark. You won't regret this!"

"I already am..."

By the time they arrived, everything was chaos. Portions of the building had already plummeted onto the streets below. Blood painted the roads, the stench of death was already in the air and the fires created a noise so deafening he could barely hear his own thoughts. He flew up, past Peter and Rhodey and into an opening on the south side of the building. The smoke and dust made it hard to make anything out, blanketing the air in a thick grey matter that made it hard to breathe. In that moment he was very grateful for the air filtration system in his suit.

“FRI, scan the stairwell for any sign of survivors. And give me some visuals I can work with.”

“On it, boss.”

The familiar blue of his rendering visuals kicked in, as infrared wouldn’t be effective in this situation with all the residual heat of the fires. He looked around, carefully scanning the area for any sign of life. The blue glow finally settled over a pile of debris that held up this part of the building. The glow concentrated into a small huddled form somewhere in the debris, a form no bigger than that of a six-year-old child. Give or take.

"FRI, get me the full info on the stability of the debris and the current location of that child. We need to get the kid out."

"The building's instability is partially supported by the debris structure, boss. Trying to get the child out would result in-"

"I don't care FRIDAY, make it happen. Warn Rhodes about the incoming instability and contact Coulson to get Johnson on casualty prevention."

"Contacting them now."

FRIDAY paused for a second. “Coulson and Colonel Rhodes have been notified, I’ve scanned the debris for possible rescues with a success rate above fifty percent. There’s a relatively stable part of the instability on the right. It will not immediately collapse upon moving and may give you a few valuable seconds to get the child out.”

“Got it.” Tony flew over, hovering near the debris structure as he located a good place to get started. “FRI, see if there’s anything around to steady the ceiling with. I need a strong beam to hold the weight for a few seconds. The longer it can give me, the better.”

“There’s a fallen support beam large enough to do the trick in the office next to the stairwell. It might buy you up to a minute.”

Tony kicked into gear, dragging the support beam from the office into the stairwell. He used it to support most of the crumbling ceiling above him and started moving the rubble with extreme care. “Kid? Can you hear me?”

“Help me!” A child’s voice cried out, a soft sob following the cry.

“Hold on!” Tony lifted a particular heavy slab of concrete. He could see the battered, huddled form of the child. He looked to be injured, but not moving him was no longer an option. They were running out of time. “Can you move?”

“My legs hurt…” The child whimpered.

Tony moved himself under the concrete, supporting it up with most of his back as he reached out to the kid. “Can you grab my hand?”

A tiny hand managed to grab hold of his gauntlet and he quickly but carefully started pulling the child to him. The boy cried and whimpered but thankfully he wasn’t trapped by the rubble and most of the damage done to him seemed to be scrapes and bruises. He pulled the boy to his chest piece and encircled him with his arms as he slowly started edging his way out of the rubble.

The ceiling above them, and the walls surrounding them started rumbling. Collapsing in parts around them as he cleared the final piece of concrete. “FRIDAY get me a trajectory out of here!”

The floor collapsed below him just as he activated his thrusters and the rest of the building crumbled around him. For a moment, everything went dark as dust obscured his vision.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky wakes up in Wakanda, medical tests are performed and a cure for Bucky's problem is discussed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I have a feeling you guys might hate me, but this needs to happen. It deviates from the prompt a bit, there is cryosleep. But there are four more chapters to go and a lot can happen in four chapters.

**__**

_**May 30, 2002** _

_Programming not found. Programming not found. Restarting memory system. Memory core restarted. Warning. Data missing. Data missing. Missing command._

**Present day**

The soft beeping of the heart monitor slowly woke him from his slumber. He sat up slowly, flexing his hand as he looked at the remaining metal stump of his left arm. He faintly registered some doctors slowly approaching him and he froze in a reflex. They weren’t going to hurt him, were they?

“Mister Barnes?” The doctor was dark skinned and his voice had a heavy accent to it, African maybe? Although he wasn’t sure about it. He didn’t really want to ask and be wrong about it either.

“Yes?”

“My name’s Otieno, I’m your physician during your stay in Wakanda. I’ll be monitoring your health from here on. Would you be willing to answer some questions?” The doctor stared intently at him for a few minutes, as if he was observing him. It unnerved him slightly, but the man didn’t seem to be threatening him.

He nodded. “Sure.”

“Alright then. Can you tell me your full name, your date of birth and your current location?”

“James Buchanan Barnes,” He paused on his date of birth, he was fairly sure he remembered it but he couldn’t access it for some reason. “I think it’s March ten, I’m not sure what year.”

“That’s alright, Mister Barnes,” The doctor took some notes, “Can you tell me your current location?”

“Wakanda?” He looked around, “In a hospital?”

The doctor scribbled down some more on his chart. The double doors, which seemed to be the only exit for the ward, opened. “Buck?”

He recognized the blond mop of hair anywhere. “Steve… what happened?”

Steve fidgeted with his own hands, looking down at them for a minute before meeting his gaze. “What do you remember?”

He shrugged, “Not much, I think we were in a fight with someone… your friend. Tony. I think we hurt him and then left him in the cold. Did we? Steve?”

Steve was looking away, off into the distance before he slowly nodded. A heavy weight settled in his stomach.

“We did… but-”

“What?!” He couldn’t believe it, yes something terrible had happened and he lost an arm, but they shouldn’t have- “Is he okay?”

“I- I don’t-”

“You didn’t check?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Of course I did.” Steve sighed. “They wouldn’t tell me anything. War Machine was hospitalized but that’s all Natasha knows.”

“The Black Widow…” He faintly remembered her from somewhere, he just couldn’t recall it. “I think I-”

“If you don’t mind, Captain. I should really go back to examining my patient.” Otieno interrupted him.

“Do you mind if he stays?” Jim looked up at the physician, taking a quick peek at his best friend for support.

“I suppose it can’t hurt. The king has asked me to determine how well you’re handling the old programming.”

He fidgeted, looking up at Steve and then down to his own hands. “I suppose…”

“It’s alright, Buck. It’s just a few questions.”

Otieno shook his head. “Not exactly. I’d like to attach some sensors to your temples in order to assess the level of brain activity that your programming is taking up.”

“I-” He wasn’t sure if that was such a smart idea. What if the Winter Soldier released itself? “I don’t know.”

“It’s not going to hurt or stimulate your brain, Mister Barnes. It’s merely going to read it.”

“Relax, Mister Barnes. I promise you, Otieno is a professional. He knows what he’s doing.” Another dark-skinned man entered the ward, he carried himself with great confidence and poise. A young woman walked next to him, she seemed to resemble the man quite a bit. His sister maybe? She carried herself with a similar look of confidence and poise.

“Your majesty, your royal highness.” Steve and Otieno bowed their heads in acknowledgment of the man and the woman, the king and a princess?

“I’ve promised Shuri I would let her have a look at your patient, Otieno.” The king turned to Steve. “She’s our finest engineer and may be able to help with Mister Barnes’ memory loss.”

“No offense, your majesty. But I’m right here.” King or not, not addressing Jim directly while talking about him was rude in his eyes.

“He’s right brother, where are your manners?” The woman, Shuri, gave him an encouraging smile. “Don’t worry, Otieno will not hurt you and neither will I.”

“Forgive me, Mister Barnes.” The king apologized.

He still wasn’t too sure about this, especially not with all these people around. But Steve smiled at him in encouragement which made him nod in agreement. He could do this.

Otieno walked over to a storage closet on the other side of the ward and fetched a strange looking machine which seemed to consist of a board full of little switches, one of those really flat computer screens and a lot of sensory wires.

He looked down at his own chest where his heart monitor sensors where still attached to his body, along with an IV line which was hooked up to a bag of clear solution. Saline, probably.

Otieno wheeled the machine up to the side of his bed and plugged it into a wall socket nearby. The machine came on with a soft beep. Otieno put a weird looking gel onto the cups of the sensors and gently placed them onto his temples, his forehead and down in his neck. It felt weird like someone put blobs of a liquidly pomade on his head. But it didn’t hurt, so he let it slide. The asset inside of him stirred but didn’t surface. So far, he could handle this.

Otieno’s hand moved towards a switch, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up at the sight. He couldn’t do this, he couldn’t, the pain-

A hand rested itself on his right shoulder, warm, comforting, Steve. He released the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding and looked up at his friend with a soft smile, nodding at him in thanks.

A soft click indicated the switch had been flipped and the machine started beeping away. Strangely enough, there was no pain, no strange feelings running through him. Quite anti-climatic if he said so himself.

“Do you see that?” Otieno was staring at the screen in disbelief.

“There are two distinct lines…” Shuri added.

“As if there are two conscious brains inside one. It’s remarkable.” The king, he still hadn’t caught his name, spoke up.

“Put it in a three dimensional reading with peak indicators.” Shuri walked over to Otieno and flipped a few switches on the board.

The screen burst into two diagrams with a magnitude of different colors running through it. It didn’t mean anything to him, but he kinda wanted to know what they meant. It looked interesting, to say the least. Otieno and Shuri seemed to think it was interesting.

“What does that mean?”

Otieno, the king, and Shuri shared a look before focusing their attention back to him.

“It means that there are two subconscious beings in your brain, or that’s what we think.”

“This programming they did, it’s like they created completely new pathways in your brain in order to create a secondary subconscious that can overwrite your own brain waves by electric stimulation. It’s both horrifying and extraordinary.” Shuri had leaned towards the screen, staring at it wide-eyed.

She then leaned back, a hand resting under her chin as she studied the screen. “But not something that cannot be undone. But we’ll have to bring you under for the procedure.”

“You mean freeze him cryogenically.” Steve stiffened.

“It’s to ensure the Winter Soldier doesn’t come out to defend you, Mister Barnes.” The king said.

“If that’s what has to be done, then do it.” He sighed softly, knowing that he could potentially trigger another episode by doing this. But if he ever wanted to have a chance to apologize to Tony Stark, he had to do this. He’d-, no the soldier, the soldier had taken so much from Tony. He owed it to the Alpha to find out why his mate had been targeted.

Otieno slowly took the brain sensors off his body, leaving the heart monitor sensors and IV drip alone for now. Shuri tapped away on a holographic screen in her hands in the meantime, seemingly lost in thought.

“If you would follow me Mister Barnes, the sooner we can start, the sooner we can get this over with,” Otieno led him to a new room and pointed to a bed next to a cryogenic chamber. “Please have a seat.”

Steve walked in after him, his hands in his pockets as he studied the chamber. “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“They’re saying they can cure me, Steve. I can finally be free of this nightmare.” He sounded hopeful, even to his own ears. And he had hope, for the first time in many, many years. He had faith that Shuri could cure him.

“If you’re sure.”

“I am. I’m doing this for Tony, I’m doing this for me.” He sighed softly, running his hand through his long, messy locks, “I need to know why all of this happened, I need to know I can make things right.”

Steve slowly nodded in response. His friend was unusually quiet but he seemed accepting of Jim’s choice. He hoped it would stay that way. He needed to do this, for his own sake, for Tony Stark’s sake, and for the sake of his own sanity. The blanks in his mind needed to be filled. He needed to undo the wrongs he created in this world. As much as he could. He hoped Steve would understand that.

Shuri and the king came in after a few minutes, the princess took a seat behind a monitor that seemed to control the cryogenic chamber and tapped away on the controls.

“You don’t have to do this against your will, Mister Barnes.”

He looked up at the king. “I never did catch your name, your majesty.”

“Forgive me,” The other man nodded, “T’Challa.”

“T’Challa. Thank you for your concern. But this is something I have to do. I can’t trust my own mind until this is done. And nobody else should either.” He looked down at his remaining hand and bit his lip. “I need to do this.”

“Then it shall be done.” T’Challa took a step back and nodded at Otieno. “Otieno will remove your IV drip and switch your monitor sensors to more sophisticated ones. We’ll be able to monitor you in the chamber during the procedure.”

He nodded in acknowledgment, looking to Steve for support as Otieno approached him. He felt the fellow Omega stand behind him, a hand on his metal shoulder for support and to distract him from the doctor’s movements.

“So what’s going to happen to me?”

“Once you are in suspended animation we will start running digital construction test of your brain. This will all be done in a digital environment so there will be no damage to your physical brain. The scan we made and the scans we will continue to make will aid us in this process.” Shuri said, looking up from the controls for a minute as she explained the procedure.

“It may take a few weeks but eventually we hope to find out how we can disable the programming HYDRA created for the Winter Soldier, and how we can disable him without corrupting the rest of your memory. We want to keep you intact while taking him out of the equation.”

He nodded solemnly, sighing softly. “Well… whatever you need to do.”

The cryogenic chamber was slowly lowered into a flat position and Bucky willingly laid down on the bedding. T’Challa and Otieno gently strapped him in under the careful supervision of Steve.

The cryogenic chamber was carefully erected once again, the glass casing closed and the temperature inside gradually fell.

“See you soon, Buck.”

“With you till the end of the line,” Jim answered, closing his eyes as the cold settled in around him and his brain activity slowed down.

*

Two months and three weeks passed in which Shuri ran many, many tests and created an algorithm that Steve couldn’t hope to understand. But that didn’t matter. Shuri had cracked the code, or so she said. According to her, they were going to reboot Bucky’s brain, giving new meaning to the codewords installed. Leaving them there with the memories intact, but making sure that they wouldn’t ever bring out the Winter Soldier again. She integrated both minds into one.

Sam, Wanda, Clint, and Scott had gathered for the big day, the day Bucky would wake from his slumber. Their team was back together. But for how long?

*

**_May 30, 2002_ **

_He was walking towards a flipped car in the middle of traffic, the hood of the car was completely destroyed and one of the parts was protruding through the cabin itself. He knew why he was there, he had_ orders _. Orders to assassinate._

_“Something hit the car, it flipped. There’s something piercing my abdomen, Junior’s not moving. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.”_

_He stopped at the words coming from the target’s mouth, his advanced hearing picking up the conversation easily. A part of his brain screamed at him to stop. But the asset didn’t care. He had_ orders _. Program override._

_“I can smell gas, it’s leaking. I’m so scared.” Barnes closed the distance between him and the car, “There’s something or someone moving outside… Tony, if I don’t make it, I love you.”_

_He looked down at his hands, at the storm lighter located there. One little chuck towards the car and everything would be done. Yet he hesitated for a second. This was wrong…_

_But he had_ orders _._

_He lit the lighter and chucked it towards the vehicle before taking off in the opposite direction._

**_Several days earlier:_ **

_“Do you understand your orders, soldat?”_

_The asset looked at his handler, his eyes cold and calculating. “Terminate the rogue agent.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you found the chapter interesting, I realize there isn't much winteriron action yet, but I'm building up to it in the next Chapter. Let me know your thoughts on this one, i'd love to hear from you.
> 
> Comments fuel my inspiration.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed reading this, let me know what you think of it in the comments below. Comments fuel me and awaken my inspiration.
> 
> Kudos/bookmarks are greatly appreciated!
> 
> ~ Ben


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